General Background

The village of al-Grīn is an unrecognized Bedouin village situated a few kilometers south-west of the town of Ḥūrah. There are about 1,200 inhabitants in the village. A large part of the village was recognized by the state as the village of as-Sayyid, but the remainder of the village is unrecognized. The inhabitants in the unrecognized part of the village were removed, during the 1950s, to this area from their lands in the north-western part of the Negev. The village derives its name from the word ‘Grīn’, which in Arabic means a horn, referring to the horns of the animals raised by the villagers. According to another tradition, the name designates the hill on which the village is situated, which has the shape of a horn.

Services and Infrastructure

There are no education and health services in al-Grīn. The inhabitants are forced to travel to the town of Ḥūrah to obtain services. The elementary school is located about one kilometer away, and the high-school is 4 kilometers away from the village.

In 1979 the inhabitants constructed a pipe to lead water from the town of Ḥūrah, and the pipe continues to serve the residents today. The rate of the water is the highest in Israel. The village is not connected to the national electric grid.

Threats

The village of al-Grīn is not recognized by the state. It rests on land owned by the state, and the residents still await a solution for their ownership claims to land in the north-western part of the Negev. While a part of the village was recognized in 2006 as the village of as-Sayyid, the remainder has been left without a solution. The residents expressed their willingness to move to a settlement that at first was constructed for the tribe of Tarābīn, near the town of Rahaṭ. However, the Housing Ministry changed its plans and a Jewish settlement was established there, named Givot Bar. Currently there are houses in the village that are subject to demolition orders while new and renovated houses are demolished by the state.

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